Posted: October 20th, 2022

Case Study Research In Motion Limited Marketing Essay

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Research In Motion Limited (RIM) is a wireless solutions provider that is known primarily as the maker and provider of BlackBerry wireless devices and e-mail services… additionally, the company develops integrated hardware, software and services for wireless networks. RIM technology also enables a broad array of third party developers and manufacturers to enhance their products and services with wireless connectivity to data. Research in motion began life in waterloo, Ontario, as a two-person tech start-up in a one-room office; from the start, RIM was a company with a difference. Financed by family funds and a $ 15,000 government loan, the BlackBerry has become a compulsory communicator, used by 85 percent of the fortune 500 companies. The initial success of BlackBerry products and services can be attributed to its leadership, passionate employees, outstanding partnerships, distinctive technological expertise, a commitment to quality and a culture that embraces innovation, customer service and operational excellence.

RIM generates most of its revenues through the sale of its popular BlackBerry which has become highly popular for corporate customers around the world. RIM also develops its own operating system and network services. RIM integrates several aspects into one business. This approach has had impressive success and propelled RIM to the forefront of the smart-phone market the last few years. But RIM’s dominance over the smart phone industry appears to be fading…the competitors are gaining grounds and the company has become vulnerable to competitive threats from hardware makers such as Apple iphone, Google Anroid and Nokia smart phones. According to Forbes online, Apple’s market share to overtake that of RIM by 2011, and for Apple and RIM to have 11 % and 8% market share, respectively. Microsoft could also challenge RIM’s dominance in the corporate market.

With a confusing mix of new products, poor developer support, lack of innovation and an unwillingness to take risks, RIM is in danger of being outsmarted and overshadowed by aggressive new rivals. RIM needs to develop a clear strategy towards positioning itself for this very crowded market and must satisfy customer demand. RIM and the Blackberry developers should be conducting regular market research efforts to measure how consumers feel about, not just their brand, but their competitors too and not rely on existing technology and its initial successes; the company should be searching for valuable consumer insights to understand what people want from their mobile device. If the consumers prefer a particular brand and make, then it is time to improve upon a brand or come out with a different product. I believe, in order for RIM to hold on to its edge in the smart phone market it has to put more resources into the Asia-Pacific region in terms of creating new presences in high-potential-growth countries where RIM has a strong relationship with network carriers. RIM has an Asia-Pacific smart phone market share of 1.7 percent, compared with 48 percent share in North America and 20 percent globally, which reflects the opportunity for growth there (Bangkok Post, 2010).

Rim’s leadership is facing a tough job ahead; leading an organization through change is hard. Being world requires the ability to operate at the highest standards of any place anywhere. Thus, becoming a world class does not mean merely improving. It means becoming one of the very best in what you do. The leadership must consider the following:

What are the technological factors that RIM should consider?

Should RIM expand its market?

What marketing strategy should RIM develop in order to regain its dominance and its position in this very crowded market?

Should RIM refine it segmentation strategy to accommodate buyer differences?

Should the company offer the Blackberry at a lower price?

Within a business, the function of the directors’ board is, in practice, to manage the operations, and to approve financial objectives as well as strategic orientations. In fulfilling this function, directors must keep in mind that they must always act in the best interest of the business in order to increase its value. With this in mind, the various corporate, fiscal, and civil laws lay upon a business’ directors a number of obligations and responsibilities (Lessard, 2008).

Currently, Research In Motion (RIM) is led by the organization’s two founding co-CEOs who are supported by an executive team, which has recently been expanded to meet the needs of a growing organization. RIM’s board is chaired by its co-CEO, Jim Balsillie which creates a situation where insiders and management hold the potential to exert far too much influence on the mindset and direction of the board and where the board is considerably under-empowered in terms of independence.

In February 2009, the Ontario Securities Commission (OSC) barred Mr. Balsillie from serving on the company’s board of directors for a year due to incorrectly priced stock options granted to all RIM employees from 1996 to 2006. It ordered Mr. Lazaridis and Mr. Estill to pay penalties. Other RIM board members… Dennis Kavelman, Angelo Loberto, Kendall Cork and Douglas Wright were also reprimanded by the securities regulator (National Post, 2010).

With a new code of conduct, it is important not to confuse control with ownership. RIM should be a separate legal entity, which no one actually owns. Shareholders do not own a company, they own shares. They have a residual claim to the assets of the company if there is anything left after it has discharged all its obligations. Shareholders have the right to vote their shares to elect board members, who in turn control the company. It is not necessary for board members to be shareholders. In fact, it may be preferable if some of the members are independent and do not represent an investment in the company.

Given the size, stature and scope of the Company, the board needs more formally developed practices and processes to effectively oversee the co-CEOs and executive officer.

The new code of business conduct will apply to all employees and to the members of Board of Directors. It is designed to deter wrongdoing and to promote:

Honest and ethical conduct, including the ethical handling of actual or apparent conflicts of interest between personal and professional relationships.

Full, fair, accurate, timely, and understandable disclosure in reports and documents that RIM files with, or submits to, government agencies and in other public communications

Protecting RIM’s confidential and proprietary information

Compliance with applicable governmental laws, rules and regulations.

The prompt internal reporting of violations of this code

Accountability for adherence to this code.

Research In Motion needs to enhance oversight and corporate governance by electing new independent directors to replace departed directors. There must be remediation of accounting and reporting for stock options and other equity-based compensation. Sound governance simply does not occur as a result of accidents or sudden outbreaks of altruism. It happens only when leaders lead with integrity, when directors actually direct and when major organizations are held to the highest standards of accountability by vigilant stakeholders and informed individuals (Finlay, 2006).

RIM was the first company to understand that mobile applications need to be delivered as part of an integrated package, including hardware, software and services, which are both complete and simple to use. RIM’s business model is also a strong weapon against the competition, as it enables its resellers to charge for maintenance and support as part of a subscription, rather than charge an annual fee. This remains RIM’s main strength and weapon against its competitors. The BlackBerry has long been the de facto Smartphone in business and government. The IT control and monitoring of BlackBerry via BlackBerry Enterprise Server (BES) has always been the crown jewel of RIM’s business model and a major selling point to enterprises because it ensures device and data security that’s a step above any other platform’s (Lion, & Green, 2006).

But today, RIM’s business model selling purely through operators means that it is dependent on operators to launch the BlackBerry service which takes time, and the cost associated with launching can be high for smaller operators. This business model leaves many companies wondering and trying to rationalize their investments in mobile email by selecting a single supplier. While this is not a key issue today, mostly because of the lack of viable alternatives, it will become an important factor for enterprise users to consider in the near future. I believe RIM’s success is contingent upon its market segmentation and since the Blackberry is quite expensive for the average user, RIM has been targeting the business segment, but the demographics of BlackBerry owners are changing. Two years ago it was all attorneys, salespeople, and executives, now it’s a much more diverse user base. Today, companies can win or lose the competitive race depending on their speed and how fast they can bring new products to market or their flexibility of how easy they can change or alter the way they perform their activities to respond to the actions of their competitors.RIM needs to develop a clear strategy towards positioning itself for this very crowded market by focusing on providing its customers with more choices in key areas such as software packages and devices, to extend its addressable market. RIM also needs compelling applications; the company’s Blackberry has no meaningful apps to attract a younger and app-hungry customer base. The Blackberry used to be considered a high end and sought after handset. Today, the iPhone is considered the high-end handset to own. No wonder Apple has taken a bite out of RIM. (Louis, 2010).

RIM should expand the number and variety of applications and content available for BlackBerry Smart-phone users through BlackBerry App World and through other partnerships.

In order to compete in this crowded market, RIM should offer two services… one for corporations and other for normal consumers. The corporate version would be a license of its “encrypted and secure” e-mail and BBM service for corporations that are registered in the country. The license would cover only the corporate e-mail accounts. The consumer version would be current the out-of-the box solution but without the high level encryption. It would offer the same security level as one enjoys on the Internet, a solution that consumers and governments across the world would be content with.

Rim’s new business model should be to create value for customers, employees, and investors, and that the interests of these three groups are linked. A sustainable value cannot be created for one group unless it is created for all of them. The first focus should be on creating value for the customer, but this cannot be achieved unless the right employees are selected, developed, and rewarded, and unless investors receive consistently attractive returns. For the customer, it entails making products and providing services that customers find consistently useful. In today’s economy, such value creation is based typically on product and process innovation and on understanding unique customer needs with ever-increasing speed and precision.

Companies cannot grow and expand without being able to find innovative ways to raise capital to finance expansion. There is a short-term capital which is needed from the very beginning to start up the business and to cover day-to-day running costs and long-term capital to help them to grow and expand. As the company grows and expands, its need for additional capital increases; some of that capital could be provided through different sources such as its own money, borrow money from a bank, issue a bond and therefore borrow money directly from private or institutional investors, or issue more stock through a secondary offering if the company is already public.

Today, managers who make no attempt to learn and adapt to change in the global environment find themselves reacting rather than innovating and their companies often become uncompetitive and fail. Although Research In Motion (RIM) still dominates in the business user segment and they are all about secure email, the competitors are gaining grounds. RIM and the Blackberry developers should be conducting regular market research efforts to measure how consumers feel about, not just their brand, but their competitors too and not rely on existing technology and its initial successes, the company should be searching for valuable consumer insights to understand what people want from their mobile device. If the consumers prefer a particular brand and make, then it is time to improve upon a brand or come out with a different product.

RIM needs to develop a clear strategy towards positioning itself for this very crowded market and must satisfy customer demand.

RIM needs to work on refining it segmentation strategy to accommodate buyer difference. When targeting consumers there are few considerations to keep in mind.

How well existing segments treated by competitors?

How large the market size of the segment is?

How good it’s potential and how big it will grow in the future? It would also be very helpful to conduct repeated surveys in order to anticipate the direction and magnitude of future market change.

Differentiated strategy: In the differentiated strategy a product is positioned differently for each target segment. The demographics of BlackBerry owners are changing. Two years ago it was all attorneys, salespeople, and executives, now it’s a much more diverse user base.

Brand extension marketing strategy. Brand extension marketing strategy to close the technological lead built up by rivals Apple and Google. Brand extension strategies establish trust in consumers’ minds. They are a company’s most valuable assets and they should be treated very carefully. RIM should aggressively partner with wireless carriers to expand availabilities by growing and strengthening their relationships with carriers and distribution partners across the globe

In order to grow, companies need to retain and expand existing customers. This often leads to customer preferences. The company should be searching for valuable consumer insights to understand what people want from their mobile device. If the consumers prefer a particular brand and make, then it is time to improve upon a brand or come out with a different product. RIM options for growth strategies towards positioning itself for this very crowded market should include segmentation strategy to accommodate buyer difference and a differentiated strategy where the products are positioned differently for each target segment.RIM should expand the number and variety of applications and content available for BlackBerry Smart-phone users through BlackBerry App World and through other partnerships. RIM currently has service agreements with over 270 wireless networks in about 110 countries. China, Latin America, and Europe are being driven by the growing appeal of BlackBerry products to new demographics, particularly the tech-centric youth segment who are drawn to BlackBerry by a number of factors, including the ease of typing on a keyboard, the viral effect of BlackBerry messenger and attractive pricing particularly as more carriers offer prepaid pricing packages targeted at this market segment (“Rim’s international footprint,” 2010).

RIM can extend its market leadership through innovation and focused investments in R&D, attract, hire and retain the best available talent and effectively manage costs and operating expenses. Currently RIM is working on a dual Persona Software for BlackBerry smart-phones, which will segregate the personal side of the device from the secure corporate side within their existing and trusted BES infrastructure and management environment. This device software is currently in carrier testing and is expected to be available in the United States early in the New Year. And over the past year, RIM acquired a number of companies, including Cellmania, Torch, QNX and most recently, The Astonishing Tribe, a Swedish company that designs snazzy user interfaces for smart-phones and other mobile devices.

The mounting competition is leading the two Canadians to shift their strategy. Rather than focus on defending the supremacy of the BlackBerry as an e-mail machine, they’re adjusting to a world in which the vast majority of handhelds for e-mail and more will be made by their competitors. RIM’s gambit is to stake out leadership in software and services while protecting its hardware niche. The goal is to turn the BlackBerry service into the leading standard for corporate workers on the move (“Rim’s international footprint,” 2010).

Growth Opportunity is an investment that has the potential to grow significantly, leading to a profit for the investor and RIM is experiencing significant sales growth in North America and internationally, resulting in the growth in its carrier customer base in terms of numbers, sales and trade receivables. The BlackBerry subscriber account base grew by almost 80% in fiscal 2009, driven by strong sales in both enterprise and consumer markets as well as exceptional market acceptance of the new BlackBerry products launched throughout the year.

Consumer Behavior

Consumer decision making varies with the level of involvement in the purchasing decision. And other people often influence consumer’s purchase decision. The marketer needs to know which people are involved in the buying decision and what role each person plays, so that marketing strategies can also be aimed at these people. (Kotler et al, 1994). It is the behavior of the consumer which impacts their decision to purchase or not purchase the product. Depending on their decision and their usage, an organization decides which products to manufacture and to continue. And what kind of promotional offers or marketing campaigns need to be undertaken.

Consumer Decision-Making Process

In a multi-attribute models a consumer preference for a brand in a product class is expressed as a weighted sum of the brands attribute values. In the case of Blackberry it was marked as a gadget for people who wanted easy access to their email and those who wanted their phones to do more than work as a communication tool. Today however, it is more a tool to manipulate your photos, store songs and movie clips, have video chats, browse the internet, download music…etc.

Factors affecting Consumer involvement

Previous experience: low level involvement

Interest: high involvement

Perceived risk of negative consequences: high involvement

Situation: low to high due to risk

Social visibility: involvement increases with product visibility

Emotions and the number of years of education can also be a factor affecting consumer involvement and are positively correlated with the probability of choosing a non-compensatory decision rules.

Compensatory Decision: Using product characteristics to guide decision

Select the best overall brand– evaluates brand options in terms of each relevant attribute and computes a weighted or summated score for each brand. The consumer chooses the brand with the highest score.

Compensatory model because a positive score on one attribute can outweigh a negative score on another attribute.

Conjunctive Decision Rule: Consumer sets a minimum standard for each attribute and if a brand fails to pass any standard, it is dropped from consideration.

Reduces a large consideration set to a manageable size.

Often used in conjunction with another decision rule.

Synthesized decision rule Consumers maintain overall Assessments of brands in their long term memories. Brands on not evaluated on individual attributes but on the highest perceived overall rating.

Brand extension benefits:

Brand extensions let a marketer take a brand with well-known quality perceptions and associations and put it on a brand in a new category. Not only can marketers capitalize on brand awareness, they can also leverage off of the associations consumers know about the parent brand.

Second, consumers who favorably evaluate a parent brand are more willing to try and adopt the brand extension than an unfamiliar brand in the same category. They trust a known brand name.

Brand extensions can also help a firm’s stock prices

Brand extensions can also help consumers understand the core meaning of the brand name. (Top brand extensions).

Brand Name: In 2001 RIM or Research in Motion called on Lexicon Branding to help name its new wireless email device. The name RIM was not attractive to the customer and the company had to search for a name that would bring joy and somehow give feelings of peace. After someone made the connection that the small buttons on the device resembled a bunch of seeds, Lexicon’s team explored names like strawberry, melon and various vegetables before settling on blackberry-a word both pleasing and which evoked the black color of the device.( PocketBerry Team,2009)

Brand personality: Brands, like people, have personalities. The most successful brands understand that a distinctive personality can not only make a brand promise more believable. It also can make a brand and its promise more memorable, enhancing its stature and building customer loyalty, adding weight to the brand’s competitive position. The BlackBerry brand is alert and well-informed; it is street smart, alert to change, able to distinguish what is important from what is not. It is confident, focused on the task at hand. It knows it can deliver everything you need it to. It is approachable and a resource you can depend on without taking it too seriously. And that’s why it is so likeable. The BlackBerry brand promise directly addresses the customer’s desire for success in life and at work. The BlackBerry brand promises every customer: Reliable, best-in-class mobile connectivity so you can live large and achieve more.

Companies need to focus on the offering rather than on the actual product or service itself in order to better identify unmet needs and wants of the target markets, and to enhance development of new products or services. RIM generates most of its revenues through the sale of its popular BlackBerry which has become highly popular for corporate customers around the world. RIM also develops its own operating system and network services.RIM integrates several aspects into one business. This approach has had impressive success thus far, propelling RIM to the forefront of the smart-phone market. While the majority of RIM’s revenues come from sales to corporate customers, the company has begun expanding into the consumer market with the recent successful launches of the BlackBerry Curve and BlackBerry Pearl devices. Additionally, RIM’s sales growth has been coming primarily from emerging markets, and the company is working to further expand into these potentially high-growth markets. An organization’s offerings are a part of who they are as a business. The marketing plan should address what types of customers the company seeks, what the buyers need, and the offerings meet the company’s needs.

Promotions

Traditional communication tools

Television: RIM has a very good marketing mix and marketing strategy. RIM first started being very attractive to businesses but has made huge gains as a consumer product. RIM launched its first television ad campaign targeting a mass audience in 2008, and last quarter 80% of its new subscribers came from the non-business crowd. RIM’s television advertising Strategy should aim to place the Blackberry advertisements during prime time television and during sports events.

Radio: Advertising can be a very effective way to get the company’s message to a large, broad market. A major advantage of radio ads is they are usually cheaper than television ads, and many people still listen to the radio, for example, when in their cars. Ads are usually sold on a package basis that considers the number of ads, the length of ads and when they are put on the air. . A major consideration with radio ads is to get them announced at the times that your potential customers are listening to the radio.

Newspaper and Magazines are another excellent ways to reach the target audience for less. It is import to find out if there is a magazine that focuses on the smart-phone industry. If there is one, then the magazine can be very useful because it already focuses on potential customers.

Outdoor advertising: although creating an effective billboard ad is a challenge, it can be done; the reader will only glance at it from a passing vehicle for one to three seconds. Therefore, the headline must be very concise. Here is some of what rim has done to grab the attention of the consumer.

Direct Mail and novelty items mail advertising can be an effective marketing tool to target specific customers but in the case of Research In Motion, I would have to say it will not be effective, therefore not recommended.

Promotions; sampling, coupons and rebates, contests and sweepstakes, premiums, point-of-purchase materials, loyalty programs, product placement: The easiest way to increase sales is to cut prices, but most businesses try to avoid this because they fear that it will erode peoples’ perceptions of the value of their products; and, it is expensive – Sales promotion help companies overcome these problems. RIM has been and is using sales promotions to generate new or renewed interest in their products, as well as increase sales in the short term. There are Blackberry discounts, coupon codes, free shipping codes, promo offers, when you shop at Blackberry websites. American Airlines and Research In Motion’s BlackBerry are also collaborating on a promotion aimed at introducing travelers to the new AA.com Notification Center. Travelers can also receive travel updates via their smart-phone.

Internet-supported and other digital media communication tool. Social media technology is any internet technology that allows the company or a person to communicate with other people. RIM is utilizing this technology to become a leader and a trusted player in the industry they represent.  Whether it is FaceBook, Twitter, Flickr or MySpace, Blackberry can keep the user in touch with their social world from almost anywhere. Another advertising tool is the BlackBerry’s messenger where messages can be live streamed on the FaceBook fan page.

Blogs and Forums

http://devblog.blackberry.com/

https://monkessays.com/write-my-essay/blackberryforums.com/

http://blogs.blackberry.com/

http://supportforums.blackberry.com/

https://monkessays.com/write-my-essay/facebook.com/BlackBerry

Place an ad on search engines. Every month, billions searches occur on the Internet .By advertising in Yahoo, Google and others, RIM can take advantage of the vast audience and drive more visitors to the website.

Public relation is about building two-way mutual relationships between publics and your company. It touches nearly every part of a business: marketing, sales, customer service,

Research in Motion’s internet business models is Business to Consumer (B2C). B2C occurs when a business sells products and services to customers who are individuals. The consumer can purchase RIM products through the internet or call customer service for help in formally purchased products

Global expansion plans

New, emerging markets such as China and South East Asia are, responsible for much of RIM’s recent sales growth. The percentage of RIM’s revenues coming from countries other than Canada and the U.S. has grown from less than one fourth of sales in FY2005 to over one third in FY2007. These markets have been experiencing periods of rapid growth themselves, spurring an increase in the demand for high-end PDAs and mobile phones. RIM recently entered into a partnership with China Mobile to sell its popular BlackBerry in China. In the first quarter of 2008, Russian mobile firms MTS and Vimpelcom started to sell Blackberry phones and servicing corporate clients.

Digital Marketing Plan.

Goals/Objectives

Details

How to Measure

When to Measure

Alternatives (if goals are not met)

Short-Term Objectives < 24 Months

Increase traffic to RIM’s and BlackBerry’s websites

Attract new users to site by placing the site link on partner’s websites( ATT, Tmobile, Verizon…etc

Increase in sales revenue and user contracts

Quarterly

Provide promotional offers for new customers.

Increase traffic to RIM’s website

Use SEO to increase traffic.

Measure the site traffic.

The results can be measured instantaneously by measuring the traffic RIM’s website.

Provide the consumer multiple links under different search criteria.

Increase young visitors to the RIM/BlackBerry website

Utilize YouTube, FaceBook and other social/communication site by placing (purchasing) links to RIM’s and Blackberry’s websites in the personal videos. Thousands of people watch these video every month.

Can be measured anytime to see if there is an increase in views to the specific video where the link is Embedded

In order to the get an accurate measurement, it is better to measure once in every quarter.

Increase the number of links

Long-Term Goals 24-60 Months

Increase sales

RIM’s latest quarterly sales were measured at 10.6 million by the analysts. RIM’s current sale is at the level of 42 million per year. RIM’s daily rate in 1Q was 116,000 smart-phones per day.

Actual sales

Annually

Optimize SEO/SEM and or change the website design to attract wider segments of the society.

RIM’s goal is to expand customer base in existing and new markets by growing and strengthening their relationships with carriers and distribution partners across the globe

Company’s Short and Long Term Goals:

Expand customer base in existing and new markets by growing and strengthening their relationships with carriers and distribution partners across the globe

Effectively manage costs and operating expenses to grow earnings

Continue to launch innovative new products and services to address existing and new market segments

Extend RIM’s market leadership through innovation and focused investments in R&D

Launch BlackBerry Enterprise Server v6.0 and increase the adoption of BlackBerry MVS in the enterprise

Continue to expand and grow their presence in the enterprise market

Expand the number and variety of applications and content available for BlackBerry Smart-phone users through BlackBerry App World and through other partnerships

Attract, hire and retain the best available talent to support RIM’s customers and partners and to maintain RIM’s market leading position and Continue to focus on delivering strong financial performance for their shareholders.

Assessment and monitoring

RIM’s BlackBerry will hold on to its leadership position in the U.S. this year but in order for RIM to hold on to its edge in the smart phone market it has to put more resources into the Asia-Pacific region in terms of creating new presences in high-potential-growth countries where RIM has a strong relationship with network carriers.RIM has an Asia-Pacific smart phone market share of 1